Ian Desmond's slam in 11th leaves Phillies reeling

Phillies' Ryan Howard, right, reacts after striking out against Washington Nationals starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez in the first inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, June 19, 2013, in Philadelphia. At left is Kurt Suzuki. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Then again, who does? If the Phillies had one of those they could see what September holds, cure Ryan Howard's ailing leg and Roy Halladay's slowly healing shoulder.

A magic crystal 8-ball, however, does not exist. But Papelbon would settle for some fundamentals -- something that, in his opinion, got between him and a save, and the Phillies and a win over the Nationals Wednesday night.

Instead, a leadoff infield hit by Denard Span in the ninth led to a two-out game-tying hit by Jayson Werth, which fertilized the giant egg laid in the 11th when Michael Stutes surrendered a game-winning grand slam to Ian Desmond as the Nationals avoided a sweep with a 6-2 win over the Phils at Citizens Bank Park.

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Span's rally-opening hit came on a 3-1 pitch, and when it left the bat Papelbon figured he had a 3-1 putout as long as he covered and Ryan Howard gave him the proper flip.

Instead, Howard was playing even with the bag and only got a piece of the ball with a dive. Freddy Galvis gloved the ball, but the second baseman's throw to Papelbon was low.

"I was thinking with a 3-1 count the infield would be back and I would just run to first base (to cover) and catch an underhand throw," the closer said. "It's just one that snuck through."

It started a laborious inning for the closer, who was pitching for the fifth time in seven days. After getting Anthony Rendon to fly out and Ryan Zimmerman on strikes, he walked Adam LaRoche on five pitches. That put the game on the shoulders of Werth, who grounded a clean single to left, scoring Span with the tying run.

The Phillies were one out away from a morale-boosting sweep of the Nationals. Somewhere there must be an amusement park ride with a sign that bans the 2013 Phillies from having morale that goes higher than a cartoon mouse's ears. Because they cannot seem to qualify for things like "satisfaction" or "pleasure."

A sweep would have given the Phils a big push into a weekend series against the Mets. Instead they must start a fresh streak, or feel the after-effects of disappointment.

For Paplebon, there is one way to stop missing out on making a serious run and getting back in the playoff hunt.

"Fundamentals. Fundamentals," he said. "This is a game of fundamentals, and we have to do fundamentals right, and keep grinding. It's a game of who grinds the most and plays the best fundamental baseball. That's pretty much it."

Yes, Stutes had to endure the ultimate beating, as he couldn't get a corner call from plate umpire Alfonso Marquez and wore the frustration on his face. But there were plenty of goats in this one for the Phillies (35-38), who were unable to end the series ahead of Washington (35-36) in the National League East standings.

Take, for instance, the 32 hitters between Michael Young's two-run homer with no outs in the first inning, and Carlos Ruiz's single with two outs in the 10th inning. Thirty-two straight Phillies hitters went to the plate. None of them managed a hit. Yes, there were four walks interspersed. But hitting had become verboten.

It started so well ... for two hitters. After Ben Revere opened things with a single to center, Young took the ninth pitch of the game from starter Gio Gonzalez into the left-center field seats for a two-run shot.

Then, nothingness.

Kyle Kendrick, who had a miserable start in Colorado in his last outing, was brilliant. He gave up just two hits himself, one of them an RBI single to Jayson Werth that cut the Phils' lead in half, but when he handed the ball to Antonio Bastardo with two outs in the eighth he was in line for his eighth win of the season and proof that as far as No. 4 starters go, he is one of the more dependable guys out there.

Bastardo did finish the eighth without incident, and Papelbon was asked to pitch the ninth for the third straight night.

"It is what it is," Papelbon said, "but shoot, you have to move on and not let one game beat you. It's a tough pill to swallow when KK went out there and pitched a hell of a game and deserved that win. As a closer I've always spoken about how it's important for us to finish those games for the starters, and unfortunately for him our bullpen wasn't able to do it tonight."

Does he think the Phillies, as-is, can get in contention just by cleaning up their act?

"I can't predict the future," Papelbon said. "I don't have a magic crystal 8-ball to tell you that. That's the game of baseball. It's a pretty simple game, and when you try to do too much it gets very complicated."

More complicated than the instruction manual for a magic crystal 8-ball.